A Pearl Harbor survivor, retired Rear Adm. Albert (Pat) H. Clancy, returned to site of the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on his Brooklyn-class light cruiser the USS Honolulu (CL 48) March 13.

His son, retired Navy lieutenant commander and Vietnam veteran, Kevin Clancy and daughter-in-law, Dawn, joined him in the tour. He also shared the day with fellow USS Honolulu survivor, former Chief Boatswain's Mate Ray Emory. Emory is a long-time resident of Hawaii, who has spent more than 30 years working to identify Sailors killed during the attack.

The tour began at Bravo Pier 21 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. This is the place where, according to Clancy, "we all grew up."

Clancy had been on base for a year, and he remembers the weeks leading up to the attack as being unremarkable. He recalled being relatively unruffled by rumors of enemy landings nearby.

"To give you a sense of our attitude prior to the attack, the week before we had been having a big exercise that kept us in battle stations until 11 o'clock and we were all upset because we had missed the movie," Clancy said.

But when the attack began and an armor-piercing bomb struck the pier next to the ship, Clancy said, "We weren't scared. We knew exactly what we had to do."

In an earlier interview Emory remembered busting ammunition boxes open and said, "anything close enough to fire we fired."

The future rear admiral, who on Dec. 7, 1941 was only an ensign, assumed the responsibilities of officer of the deck (OOD).

He said, "I directed Sailors to general quarters, while the captain was on board attempting to get underway."

Honolulu did not get underway that day. Like so many others aboard the 20 ships damaged in the attack, the officers and crew could only fight the enemy pierside. But repairs were fast and USS Honolulu was back to wartime operations within weeks.

Clancy said, "All of our attention was on the shipmates, the ship, and the war."

Nearly 75 years later, USS Honolulu is long gone from Navy service and Bravo Pier 21. In its place an unassuming plaque serves as a reminder for whatever ship moors in its place: "At 0758, 7 December 1941 near this spot an armor piercing bomb penetrated the dock deck and exploded under water inflicting severe damage to the Honolulu."

After leaving the pier, the two shipmates continued on to the USS Arizona Memorial, where they both saw many familiar names.

"Going to the dock where the Honolulu was tied up brought back many memories of that morning and the Arizona Memorial was very moving seeing the names of my classmates on the wall and remembering them," Clancy said.

After the tour Clancy and his family returned to their home in Cupertino, California. He plans to return next year.

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